Image source, EPA

Spain has been coming to terms with the deadly impact of the flash flooding that ravaged southern communities over the past 24 hours.

The last update from Valencian authorities at 19:30 CET (18:30 GMT) put the death toll in the region at 92, with another two people killed in the neighbouring region of Castilla-La Mancha.

A 71-year-old British man also died hours after being rescued from his home in Alhaurin de la Torre, in Malaga, according to Andalusia’s regional leader.

Our correspondent Nicky Schiller has only just landed in Valencia and says the rain has receded, but earlier Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged residents in the area, as well as in Andalusia and Catalonia, to remain cautious as red and orange weather warnings remain in place across large swathes of the territory.

Territorial policy minister Ángel Víctor Torres said it was still unclear how many people were missing after more than a year’s worth of rain fell in southern Spain in barely eight hours on Tuesday.

And as King Felipe VI spoke of the "enormous destruction" the flooding caused, Torres announced Spain will observe three days of mourning from tomorrow until Sunday. In the meantime, search and rescue operations will continue.

We’ll be ending our coverage of the flooding in Spain shortly but you can read more on how the events unravelled in our story here and our Europe reporter Laura Gozzi has brought together testimonies from people affected by the flooding.

You can also learn more about the weather phenomenon that caused the flash flooding in our handy video explainer.

Earlier today, the region of Catalonia, in the north east of Spain, was placed under maximum alert as the heavy rains causing flooding in the Valencia region moved northwards.

Catalonian Interior Minister Nuria Parlon now says they are ruling out activating the emergency flood plan.

Speaking in a press conference, she confirms schools will be open tomorrow.

"The forecasts we have now do not make us think that we have to protect ourselves against a flood like the one that has unfortunately happened in Valencia," Parlon adds.

Image source, EPA

Insurance analysts in Spain predict that the floods seen Wednesday will mark the most expensive natural disaster to ever hit the country, Spanish outlet El País is reporting.

Flooding in Biscay in 1983 was previously the most expensive. At that time, floods swept through the area of Bilbao and nearby municipalities, external, killing 34 people. Insurance payments for the disaster hit €977m (£818m), adjusted for inflation.

"It was tremendous, with rainfall that had not been seen in 500 years, but what has happened in Valencia could be even worse," Pilar González de Frutos, the technical assistant director of operations for the Insurance Compensation Consortium at the time of the Biscay disaster, tells the outlet.

There is a crucial difference between Valencia and Biscay this time around: In 2024, Spain drives more cars, meaning the shock to car insurers could be significantly higher.

Nicky Schiller
BBC News, in Valencia

I landed at Valencia Airport about an hour ago and I'm trying to get to one of the flood hit areas which would normally take about 15 minutes in a car but all the roads are at a standstill. It's gridlocked.

I saw a convoy of about 12 emergency vehicles whizz by at one point but many people have got out of their cars. Police are directing traffic away from the roads that have been closed.

Getting off the plane you wouldn't realise there had been a disaster in this area, it isn't even raining now but as soon as you try to move around you can see how this region is struggling to cope.

BBC World Service

People affected by the floods in Valencia have been speaking to the BBC OS programme about their experiences.

Antonio, in La Torre, tells us: “I heard strange noises outside coming from the street and when I looked out I saw the street had turned into a river. […] I couldn't believe it because it wasn't even raining”.

Later he “saw cars floating in the water” and “the water broke through some walls”. He says he was safe but some of his “friends have lost their houses” and “don't know where people are”.

Serena, in Gandia, says “many of my friends are stuck in the city, unable to return to their villages, some of them not knowing if their relatives and friends are alive or dead”.

In her town, she says “the roads have been completely destroyed”, and that the supermarkets are empty with “not enough bottled water for everyone”.

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

In hard-hit Paiporta, residents have described seeing water rush forward “like a tsunami.”

Water rushed across motorways, stranding one 21-year-old Paiporta resident and his parents on a bridge.

"We saw two cars being swept away by the current and we don't know if there were people inside," another man told Las Provincias. "We'd never seen anything like it."

Warnings to the public about the threat of a flood were delayed, some critics have say: alerts arrived more than 12 hours after warnings were issued by Spain’s meteorological agency.

• 'Like a tsunami':Spaniards recount horror of deadly floods

We can now bring you new images showing the level of destruction that heavy rainfall has brought to Spain.

Photos show debris strewn across roads. Cars swept away by the rain water can be seen piled high in roadways.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Earlier we told you a number of heads of state have offered support to Spain. More European leaders have since joined in offering their support to the flood-hit communities.

Emmanuel Macron expressed his "solidarity" with those affected and guaranteed France's "availability" to assist with relief operations.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni echoed the French president saying her thoughts are "with the families of the victims".

Austria chancellor Karl Nehammer, whose country was rocked by flooding only last month, wrote on X: "Our thoughts and our solidarity go out to the Spanish people and the emergency services who are working around the clock."

The Spanish Securities and Emergencies department has issued weather warnings across much of the country.

In Castellón, Valencia and Alicante, residents are under both yellow and red rain warnings. Valencia is under a red alert through much of the state.

A red warning precedes extreme or unusual weather events and is the departments most extreme alert. Yellow warnings indicate lower-risk weather.

The number of people killed in these flash floods has just risen to 95.

Some 92 of those deaths were recorded in Valencia alone.

A further two deaths were in Castilla-La Mancha and the other was in Malaga - the 71-year-old British man who we mentioned in our last post and whose death was reported by the Andalusian government's president.

A 71-year-old British man has died in hospital hours after being rescued from his home on the outskirts of Alhaurin de la Torre, in Malaga, the president of the Andalusian government says.

Juanma Moreno, in a post on X, external, says the man was "suffering from hypothermia" and died following several cardiac arrests.

We've largely been following the flooding in Valencia today but other areas of southern Spain, including Malaga, were also hit with heavy rainfall and subsequently flooding.

The official number of people killed by the floods still stands at 72.

Sophie Abdulla
BBC News

Before and after images from one area in the small municipality of Letur show the damage inflicted by the floods on a road and its surrounding buildings.

One person died in Letur from the floods.

The president of Castilla-La Mancha visited this particular area this morning.

Emiliano Garcia-Page says the main concern is to find "five missing people" in Sierra del Segura, external.

More than 150 people from different public administrations are collaborating in the search and rescue operation, he says.

Garcia-Page told Letur's residents that "they will not be alone in any way” and that he is asking the central government to declare the damaged municipalities as highly affected areas.

Image source, Getty Images

Let's look now at a potential global ramification of these floods, which may not have been front of mind when news broke of this weather overnight.

Large areas of farmland in Valencia, where 60% of Spain's oranges are grown, have been hit by the flash floods.

ASAJA, one of the county's largest agriculture groups, says it expects "significant damage" to crops as a result.

Farms in Valencia are responsible for almost two-thirds of citrus fruit grown in Spain, which is one of the world's top exporter of fresh and dried oranges, according to trade data provider the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Gareth Harvey
BBC Weather

Image source, EPA

The Dana weather phenomenon, which we mentioned in our last post, is quite common in this region and most often occurs during the autumn.

One study suggests that around 10 to 20 Dana events occur each year within the western Mediterranean and within the vicinity of Iberia. Though not all are as severe as the one Spain is currently experiencing.

Previous significant rain events have impacted Valencia in the past. In October 1982, around 550mm of rain fell in some locations within 24 hours, ultimately leading to the failure of the Tous Dam in the Province of Valencia which killed 8 people form the subsequent flooding.

In early November 1987, the La Safor region in the province of Valencia, saw 817mm of rainfall - a 24-hour record for Spain. And more recently, in mid-September 2019, the València, Murcia and Almería regions saw significant flooding after close to 500mm of rain fell over a couple of days.

AEMET, the national meteorological agency of Spain, believes that the weather over the last couple of days is on par with the 1982 and 1987 events.

However, the intensity of such rainfall events appears to be increasing due to climate change and rising global temperatures. Studies have suggested that Dana events in the autumn could also increase.

Both the rescue and clean-up operations are continuing in south-eastern Spain, meaning the situation is evolving and we're receiving updates all the time.

But if you're just joining us, or need a refresher, here's what you need to know.

Death toll and flooding aftermath: At least 72 people have died in flash floods that hit the south-east of Spain, and an unconfirmed number of people are thought to be missing. Valencia seems to be the worst hit city, with images showing piled up vehicles and destroyed neighbourhoods, and Spain's transport minister saying the high-speed line between the city and Madrid is significantly damaged.

How the floods came about: Parts of south-eastern Spain saw more than a year's worth of rainfall in just eight hours - in part because of what's known as the Dana phenomenon, which you can learn more about here. Criticism has been directed towards the regional government of Valencia, which eliminated the Valencia Emergency Unit (UVE) upon taking office in 2023. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 troops have been deployed to help with the rescue operation.

The weather forecast from now: As of this afternoon, Spain's state weather agencyAEMET forecasts the torrential rains will ease today, but areas of the coastal region will remain under a weather alert. The storm is heading north and warnings are now in place for north-eastern Catalonia.

The Visual Journalism Team
BBC News

We’ve been looking at the forecast of Spain’s state weather agency, AEMET, to try and get a sense of what the next 24 hours holds.

The severe rains that have battered Valencia will recede today, the agency says, though parts of the coastal region - home to more than five million people - remain under alert.

The main takeaway is that the storm is heading north, with warnings now in place for the north-eastern region of Catalonia. "Alert for the north-east of the peninsula and western Andalusia: very heavy showers could happen," AEMET writes on social media.

Here's a map we've created to show the places at risk:

New images are coming through now showing the destruction in flood-hit areas of Valencia.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The death toll has risen to 72 people, according to local media and officials, rising from the 62 confirmed deaths we reported earlier.

Spanish newspaper El País says 70 are dead in Valencia, citing "government sources".

And the leader of neighbouring Castilla-La Mancha region has reported two deaths.

We're hearing more now from local mayor Consuelo Tarazon, who says they received "several" flood alerts before the floodwaters arrived in Horno de Alcedo.

"The first alert was about half an hour before the flood started, the second alert when we had already gone up to the upper floors out of fear because the water had already reached one and a half metres, and the third one came this morning," she says.

Referencing Inferno from Dante's epic narrative poem The Divine Comedy, she said the scene was "a vision of hell".

"In my 58 years I've never seen anything like this in my life."

Image source, EPA

More now from minister Ángel Víctor Torres, who has announced that Spain will observe three days of mourning from Thursday to Saturday.

He told a news conference, following a crisis committee meeting, that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke with King Felipe VI and informed him of the official days of mourning.

Image source, EPA